Free Republic

A colossal marble head was uncovered beneath Rome's Via Alessandrina, according to a report by the Greek Reporter. The discovery was made during archaeological work near the heart of the ancient city that is aimed at removing a modern section of road separating the forums of Augustus, Trajan, and Nerva. The statue head was embedded in a layer of medieval brick and mortar, which suggests that it had been reused as building material centuries after the fall of Rome. Archaeologists believe that the sculpture dates to the reign of Trajan (a.d. 98–117) and may have once stood in his forum...

You can't escape it: as I'm typing this post a newscaster just referred to the murky death of a member of the British Secret Intelligence Service as a "James Bond mystery." On Sean Connery's 80th birthday I want to note the vigorous, inspiring post-Bond career he forged with terrific work for legendary directors like John Huston in "The Man Who Would Be King," Brian De Palma in "The Untouchables," Fred Schepisi in "The Russia House," Philip Kaufman in "Rising Sun" and Steven Spielberg in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."